More than just an encyclopedia on Christopher Columbus's life and voyages, this comprehensive reference book provides a panoramic view of the age of European exploration - from the late fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century - while emphasizing the motivations for exploration and the technological advances that made it possible. With over 350 entries by 131 scholars, this work includes: figures like Amerigo Vespucci; Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando Cortes, Queen Isabel, and King Fernando; topics like navigation instruments, creolization, the mixing of races and cultures, diseases caught aboard ship and in the New World; and controversial issues like invasion, conquest, and enslavement. Featuring over 400 illustrations and maps as well as useful bibliographies, this encyclopedia brings to life an important era of history, expansion, invention, and diplomacy that forever changed the European perception to the world.

Originally published in 2 volumes : The Christopher Columbus encyclopedia. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1992.